


Standing up for Bananas

by Alrightthen



Category: The Challenge (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bullying, Coming Out, Cute, Everyone needs to watch the challenge, Feelings Realization, Fighting, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, MTVs The Challenge, Possibly Unrequited Love, The Final Reckoning, Tony doesn’t understand his feelings, bananas/tony, its amazing, male/male relationship, no girlfriends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-27 03:48:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16210778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alrightthen/pseuds/Alrightthen
Summary: Tony gets upset when the entire house starts attacking Johnny Bananas





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so I’ve just recently started watching The challenge and I’m watching this season and I’m also watching dirty 30 and from the episode this season Tony and Bananas became partners I’ve thought they were like so cute together even though Tony betrayed Johnny. But there is like no one else in this fandom and I can’t find anything of them together so I’m going to write my own.

# Tony

I watch from the side my mouth agape while Shane yells at Johnny. He’s going on and on about how no one like Johnny, that the only reason we were still here was because some people actually liked me, and that Johnny should just leave. Shane is being a total bully and has been verbally attacking Johnny over and over this entire season and I’ve had enough. Sure Johnny Bananas and I were vendettas but I still respected him as a player and a person and no one should ever have to listen to the things Shane is telling them; no matter how strong. And Bananas is strong. He’s yelling back making quick and witty remarks.

“Everyone loves me!” He says with a laugh. I can’t help but smile at Johnny’s ablility to stay somewhat calm even when under attack. I’ve always looked up to Johnny. It’s why I worked with him for so long my first few challenges. He was a strong competitor and usually always had a strong alliance behind him. I was lucky when he took me in and protected me for so long. It was what made betraying him so hard. I knew I’d never beat him so I needed to take him out as quickly as I could since I knew this time around that I could make it father even without him. The look on his face when I said his name almost broke my heart though. He looked so betrayed and disappointed that his time in the challenge house that season could be over. And when he lost to Devin, and had to leave for good I couldn’t even look him in the eye. 

When the season began and I ran out onto that field and saw for the first time that Johnny would be my partner I wanted to turn around. I hadn’t faced him since the vendettas reunion and I didn’t want to face him now. I was embarrassed to see him because I knew I had done the worst thing; I had betrayed my friend, and the one person who had always had my back, and I couldn’t even tell him beforehand.

“Even your own partner doesn’t like you Johnny!” Shane yelled. That was it, the cord broke and I couldn’t hold it back anymore. I wasn’t quite as strong as Johnny at holding back my temper. 

“Shut the hell up Shane!” I screamed “your not allowed to speak for me! Don’t tell people who I do and don’t like!” I can’t help myself I get up in his face. I use my height and body mass to try and intimidate him but it only seems to throw more gasoline on his fire.

“IM NOT EVEN TALKING TO YOU!” Shane butted back “go back to doing what you do best! Get out of the way and let Bananas do all the work!”

“YOUR A BULLY SHANE! Your bullying my partner and I’m not going to stand here and let you say whatever you want!” I push his body away hard and he stumbles back. I didn’t want to get into a fight this year. I tried so hard to stay out of any drama, but I couldn’t let them continue to come after Johnny without me saying anything.

I realize I’m right up in Shane’s face and that there is a hand on my chest holding me back. Then Johnny is in front of me looking me in the eyes and pushing my body away from Shane. I’m reminded of all the times Johnny had done this before with me. Back when I could never control my temper. He was always the one able to calm me down. 

“That’s enough Tony” Johnny says to me quiet enough so that in all the ruckus I’m the only one that can hear him. “You don’t need to defend me, I appreciate it, but you don’t need to hurt your own game for me. Your okay, and I’m okay.” Then like countless times before that, he wraps his arms around me and pulls me into a hug. I can instantly feel my heartbeat slowing down and I am able to calm back down. 

“Alright guys. That’s enough of that. We don’t tolerate bullying in the challenge so shut it down.” TJ announces. “Get back to the house and get ready for tomorrow’s challenge.”


	2. Chapter 2

As Tony layed in bed that night he can’t keep his mind off of Johnny Bananas. He couldn’t stop thinking of all the times Johnny had made him laugh or cheered him up. Or the way he could control the attention of a room just by walking in. The man was a challenge legend, but it wasn’t just that that made Tony like him so much. He couldn’t put his finger on what it was but he couldn’t help but be constantly intrigued by the man. He looked over at the bed on the other side of the wall where Johnny was sleeping. He wasn’t trying to be creepy, just wanted to see what his face looked like. It was scrunched up a bit almost as if he were having a bad dream or were in pain. All of a sudden a weird and sudden compulsion come over him to comfort the man. As quickly as it came though he stuffed it down. Guys weren’t supposed to feel that way. Plus it would just be weird for him to do. He turned onto his back and tried to close his eyes and sleep. It was past 3 am and he knew he needed to get rest for the challenge tomorrow but he couldn’t bring himself to sleep. For some reason his head was racing with thoughts he didn’t yet understand. 

Eventually he pulled himself out of the bed and trying to be as quiet as possible made his way into the kitchen. He grabbed a glass, filled it with water, and sat down on the couch.

“Can’t sleep either?” The voice of Cara Maria rang out from behind him. 

“Not really. Haven’t even been able to close my eyes” Tony replied. “I guess I just have too much on my mind”

“Want to talk about it?” Cara asked as she walked over and sat down next to him on the couch. 

“I don’t even know what to talk about. Can’t even figure out what’s going on in my mind.” 

A few minutes of silence passed between them before Cara spoke up. “you seemed pretty angry at Shane today for what he said to Tony. Where did that come from?” she began. “Last time I checked you two weren’t exactly the closest of friends” 

“Well he’s still my partner. I have to defend him”

“Seemed less like a have to and more like you wanted to to me” she responded. 

“Well whatever Cara, I don’t know.” He snapped back. 

“Woah alright. Sorry I guess I struck a cord. Is that what you’ve been thinking about so much?” 

“I don’t know why but the need to defend him came over me so quickly in that moment. All I wanted to do was rip Shane apart for the crap he was saying to Johnny” Tony told her. “Why do I care about him so much? Is it because I feel bad for betraying him?” 

“I think it’s a little more than that” Cara replied warmly with a small smile. Tony didn’t uderstand.

“What do you mean by that?” He replied. 

“I think that’s something you’ll need to figure out yourself. Goodnight Tony.” She got up and left Tony to his own thoughts once again.


	3. Chapter 3

He’s not quite sure how but they somehow pulled it off. After running up all those stairs then trying to finish the puzzle as the rest of the house screamed and yelled trying to mess them up. It wasn’t fair, but it’s The Challenge who has to be fair when your trying to win a million dollars? He can tell Johnny is getting frustrated though. His face is angry and yet concentrated as he yells back colors of the pieces of the puzzle to put in. They have a good rythym going. Tony blocks out all the other noises and just focuses on Johnny’s voice, putting in one piece at a time. They’ve completed the puzzle and now know that if they want to win they will need to make it down the building in record time. He uses all his arms strength as he pulls himself down the building. He can see Johnny out of the corner of his eye doing the same. He makes it to the bottom first and reaches up and grabs Johnny’s legs pulling him to the ground. He can hear the horn blow and he just hopes they were able to move fast enough. 

When TJ announces that they’ve won, he doesn’t celebrate and neither does Johnny, even though they couldn’t be happier. Instead he reaches down and grabs Johnny’s shoulders giving them a squeeze. He knows they just saved their life in the game for one more week. Finally having the power again and getting a win feels great, but knowing that Cara Maria and Marie will go in anyways doesn’t. They have no power to stop them from being voted in so the win is bitter sweet.

That night Johnny comes to Tony while he was lying in bed.  
“Hey good job today, especially on the puzzle” Johnny says to him clapping him on the shoulder.  
Tony can feel his stomach flip at the compliment. It feels nice to be praised by the man he always looked up to.  
“Thanks. You too by the way.” Tony replies. Johnny gives a small smile in return.  
“Goodnight Ton” 

Johnny  

Johnny walked out of the room going back downstairs where most of the others were. He sat down on the couch with the others who were having fun and enjoying each other’s company. No one acknowledged him as he sat there and for the first time in a long time Johnny truly felt alone. He realized that the only people left in the house who even wanted to have a normal conversation with him or get to know him were Tony and Cara. Tony was upstairs sleeping and Cara, who knows where she was. After a few more minutes of sitting there in silence he couldn’t take it anymore. He’d rather be screamed and yelled at than not even acknowledged at all so he decided to cause a bit of a ruckus. It was dumb really but he couldn’t help it, he started to taunt Nelson, since he knew Nelson would blow up. And he did. 

 Tony

Tony was finally sleeping peacefully. He hadn’t been able to get much rest over the past couple of days and was happy for the quietness in his room so he had decided to go to sleep a bit early. But, what felt like maybe 5 minutes into finally falling asleep he was woken up by loud screaming. Tony groaned and tried to push the pillow over his head. “Are you serious?” Tony said to himself. He didn’t know who was yelling or what they were saying but he took a guess Bananas was somehow involved. One thing Tony knew about Johnny was that he wouldn’t back down from a fight. He couldn’t take anything without trying to defend himself somehow. In some cases that was a good thing, but in others, like petty little fights, all it did was make things worse. Tony waited ten more minutes hoping the fight would resolve itself, but after those ten minutes Tony couldn’t take it anymore. He pulled himself out of his bed and made his way downstairs. Hunter was currently trying to hold back Nelson as Nelson screamed at Bananas, who of course was laughing.  
“Would you guys shut up already! Some people are trying to sleep!” Tony yelled at the cluster of people. Everyone immediately shut up. Johnny looked sheepishly up at Tony.  
“Sorry Tony this is my fault, you can go back to sleep, I’ll leave them alone” He said. Tony was shocked to hear those words come out of Johnny’s mouth. Johnny almost never admitted to being wrong about anything.

 Johnny

When Johnny saw Tony coming down the stairs he instantly regretted trying to rile up Nelson. He knew that Tony hadn’t been sleeping well the last couple of nights and Johnny had begun to worry about him. Each night Tony would wake up and go downstairs for hours before coming back up to the room and trying to sleep again. He could see it was starting to affect Tony which is why he wanted him to go to sleep early tonight, but Johnny being his selfish self had forgotten about that and only cared that no one was paying attention to him. He was completely embarrassed and knew it was entirely his fault Tony woke up. Even though he hated to admit that he was wrong he knew he had to. “Sorry Tony this is my fault, you can go back to sleep, I’ll leave them alone” then he walked outside to go sit by himself. He sat down on the couch outside and heard footsteps approaching from behind. Assuming it was Nelson coming to laugh in his face Johnny grumbled “Go away Nelson I’m not in the mood to hear it right now.” Instead, it was Tony who sat down next to him.  
“I can leave if you want” he said.  
“No, you’re fine” Johnny replied, “just wasn’t in the mood to hear Nelson’s voice”  
Tony chuckled.  
“Sorry for waking you up. I know you haven’t been sleeping well”  
After a moment of silence Tony replied “How’d you know that?”  
“You get up every night and walk around the house for hours on end” Johnny said.  
“Oh. I didn’t know you saw that” Tony answered. 

They stay out on the couch just sitting there, not even talking, just enjoying the peacefulness of the situation. “You should go to bed now” Johnny tells Tony.  
“Alright” Tony stands up “you going to come too?”  
“I will in a bit” Johnny responds. “Goodnight Tony”  
“Night Johnny”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So basically the newest episode of the challenge was so exciting I had to write about so sorry I kinda skip over some episodes. Just be aware that there’s a little bit of a time jump.

Tony and Johnny couldn’t believe it. Somehow the best possible thing that could happen, happened. Cara Maria and Marie, and Paulie and Natalie were all back in the house. For once it seemed as if all hope wasn’t lost for team Banony. Sure the odds were still stacked against them with 4 teams to 3 but as long as one of their three teams won the power vote they could really make it to the end. 

The house found out the challenge that was supposed to be today was moved to tomorrow so instead, they would be going out for dinner and some drinks. Everyone was back to playing nice with each other and it was a relief to not be yelled at constantly for one night. The house all had a great night, no drama, just fun. On the bus ride home Tony sat with Hunter and Cory sat across from them.   
“Who sat on my pasta!” Cory whined.  
Tony, a little bit drunk, and trying to be funny said “well that pastas no good!” Picked it up with his hands and threw it out the window. Hunter apparently thought it was hilarious since he started laughing hysterically but Cory just flipped out. He started yelling at Tony and Tony realized Cory had obviously taken his joke the wrong way. Once they got off the bus Cory was still mad at him and Tony couldn’t figure out why. It was pasta! He walked over to Cory trying to be a little petty and wrapped his arm around the other mans shoulders and stated “let’s go find it!” The next couple of seconds happened in slow motion. Tony felt his feet be pushed out from underneath him, Cory had his arm on Tony’s face pushing him down. Next thing he knew he was slamming into the ground. His head hit the gravel driveway and he laid there a bit in shock. In a second Johnny was over him asking if he was okay, then in a split second was off charging towards Cory.  
Tony could hear him yelling “WHAT THE HELL MAN?!?! What was that! You just body slammed my partner into the ground! What the hell is wrong with you!” Tony was angry, his first instinct was to defend himself. He started after Cory but felt the security guard pick him up and take him into the house. Johnny was following them telling the guard to take him to the confessional room. His mind was still racing at what just happened but he focused in on Bananas who was talking to him. As he talked to Johnny he could feel his heart rate slowing down.   
“Let’s not freak out alright?” Johnny told him. A smile came to Tony’s face as he thought of all the times Johnny had calmed him down before. He thought of his daughters and knew this fight wasn’t worth giving up a half a million dollars for.   
“Okay.” He got up and gave Johnny a hug. He was so grateful he had Johnny to stick up for him even when the rest of the house wouldn’t. 

When the producers told Tony they were taking him to the hotel, he got nervous. What if this is their excuse to get me out and pair Johnny up with Devin? That is what the producers wanted from the beginning. It would make better tv. Tony knew he had done nothing wrong but the producers could spin something anyway they wanted. Tony could puke at the thought of leaving the game this close to the end. As he drove away in the car he tried to reassure himself he would be fine.

Johnny

Johnny was pissed. He was pissed at Cory for trying to hurt Tony and pissed at Devin for yelling at him for being mad because of what they did to Tony. He was mad but he knew he couldn’t start any fights. He wouldn’t give up his spot in the game that easily. He was in his room, the lights were off and he was talking to Natalie, trying to vent out his frustrations to her. All of a sudden, Nelson appeared out of nowhere yelling at him saying Johnny was always trying to escalate the situation. Like seriously was this guy just spying on him? Was he that obsessed? Nelson was trying to act tough getting up in Johnny’s face but he obviously got scared and had to call down his buddies Devin and Hunter to come defend him. The next thing Johnny knew all three of them were in HIS room ganging up and screaming at him. They were making fun of his red face but the only reason it was so red was because he was so angry and frustrated with these stupid guys. Johnny knew he needed to leave the situation before he did something he regretted but instead of leaving him alone Devin decided to follow him! All around the house Johnny tried every place to hide and get away from Devin but he couldn’t get rid of the cockroach. Devin was taunting him saying some crap about how he haunted Johnny’s dreams at night all because Devin beat him at one competition. Johnny couldn’t take it anymore. It was almost hysterical what Devin was doing to him but Johnny just couldn’t take it anymore. He thought back to his partner, Tony, thought about how much Tony wanted to win this and he knew he couldn’t get them eliminated because he lost it. Especially right after telling Tony not to do the same. So he decided to hurt Devin the only he knew how. With his words.   
Johnny knew it was a low blow and he had been trying for so long not to go there but he couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out of his mouth. “Your dad just died! Why are you here! You should be at home mourning your father! You are a terrible son! I hope the apple fell very far from the tree.” As soon as he said it he regretted it, but he couldn’t take it back now. Devin was furious but finally left him alone. Johnny couldn’t stop thinking about what he had just said. He made his way back into the house. Joss and Hunter were staring daggers into Johnny’s back but he ignored them. All Johnny wanted to do was sleep. He was just so exhausted.

The next morning Devin was standing over his bed. He was obviously hurting from the things Johnny said to him the night before and he was yelling at Johnny. He knew he deserved it which is why he didn’t say anything as Devin yelled at him. Johnny regretted every word he said about Devin’s father. He wanted to apologize but he didn’t know how. He knew saying it now wouldn’t help anything, Devin was too angry and hurt to truly listen to his apology. Plus it was just hard, Devin had been bullying Johnny and it was hard to apologize to Devin after everything he put Johnny through the night before. He knew he needed to apologize at some point in time but he couldn’t do it now. 

Finally, Tony came back. Johnny was cleaning up his room when he heard the man calling his name. Johnny could not describe the amount of joy, comfort and relief that came over him when he saw Tony. It was as if all his stress and pain melted away. He hugged Tony so hard and long. Johnny didn’t want to let go of him. He couldn’t explain his feelings. He had no clue how much he needed Tony until he was gone, and now that he was back he never wanted him to leave again.   
“Are you okay?” Tony asked him a bit concerned. Johnny realized Tony had no clue what he had been through once Tony left.   
“I’m just so exhausted. I’m tired of constantly being attacked. And for what? What do they have against me other than that I’m good at the game?” Johnny responded.   
“What happened last night?”   
“Devin” Johnny answered. He filled Tony in on everything that happened.  
“I’m so sorry Johnny” Tony whispered. Johnny realized he was being a bit selfish only worrying about himself. Tony was the one who was really attacked last night.   
“How are you?” Johnny asked “are you hurt at all?”  
“Nah just a couple of bruises but nothing serious,” Tony began “Cory’s too weak to do much damage to me”   
Johnny laughed. Tony knew how to cheer him up.   
Someone called down to them “hey guys TJs here!” Tony and Johnny trudged upstairs, they were hoping to avoid the rest of the house for at least a couple more hours. Johnny knew what was going to happen. Cory and Devin would be kicked off. Johnny wasn’t even worried about Tony, but apparently Tony was.   
“Do you think they will send me home?” Tony said shakily with a nervous look in his face.  
Johnny was confident in his answer “No way. You did nothing wrong. Tony you have nothing to worry about.” Apparently that was all Tony needed to hear. A look of relief washed over Tony’s face and Johnny’s heart fluttered. Tony was such a good guy and so sincere Johnny couldn’t help but care about him. It was what made Johnny forgive him so quickly. It was almost impossible to stay mad at the guy.   
TJ announced that Devin and Cory would be leaving. Tony, of course the ever good guy told Cory he knew he didn’t mean what he did and told him that they would talk after the show ended. Bananas, no surprise, was rejected a hug and it was once again brought up the things Johnny said to Devin last night. 

Tony

It was hard to constantly watch the rest of the house come after Johnny. Sure Johnny screwed up and said some things he shouldn’t have, but Devin also did things he shouldn’t have. But, once again all the blame was placed on his partner. He knew it was hurting Johnny. He could see the pain in Johnny’s eyes when he came back from the hotel this morning. Tony wanted to show Johnny that he didn’t deserve this. He wanted to let him know that he knew Johnny was a good person despite what everyone told him. The only reason they didn’t like Johnny was because he was good. None of them had even taken the time to try to get to know him. Tony knew if they did they would feel differently about Johnny. Just like he did. Tony understood that he cared about Johnny and he tried to excuse it as the way a someone cares about a friend but this was deeper and he knew it, just didn’t want to admit it. Tony didn’t understand his feelings for Johnny and what they meant. He wished someone could just tell him exactly what his feelings were and what he was supposed to do about them, but Tony realized he’d have to figure this one out on his own. For now Johnny would need him so he was going to be there for his partner in every way he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so can I just rant real quick about Nelson? He is literally the most annoying person on the challenge. All he cares about is himself and getting more tv time so he starts pointless little stupid fights over nothing. He is so stupid and can’t even form real sentences that make sense. I know a lot of TYB and lavender ladies are like this and are super petty and annoying but for some reason Nelson just grates me the most out of anyone.


	5. Chapter 5

They were out of the house. Tony was so disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to make it to the final but he was in no way disappointed with Johnny. Johnny was a beast and so stubborn. He held his arms up in the air for 5 and a half hours! He couldn’t even imagine the amount of will power it took to stay up that long. It was so frustrating Natalie refused to drop.Tony had watched him and he could see the pain that was in Johnny’s eyes as he stood there for the 5th hour. He saw the look of failure and sadness on his face as Johnny stared at Tony shaking his head letting him know he couldn’t do it any longer. It was almost as if he was asking Tony if it was okay, asking him if he could finally just drop his arms. Tony gave him that look, the one that said it’s alright, and Johnny dropped his arms down to his sides, stepped back and watched the sour milk come rushing down. Tony knew Johnny felt bad about not winning this one especially since they were out for good, and right before the final, but he didn’t want him to feel bad. Not after the fight he just put up, he doesn’t know if he would have been able to do the same. He goes over to hug Johnny and tell him how proud he his. He tells him what a great partner he was. Johnny just apologizes but Tony cuts him off.  
“You have nothing to be sorry for. You have been the best partner I could have ever asked for. We went through a lot together this season and that fact that we made it this far is incredible.” Tony says looking Johnny in the eyes. He wants to convey to him just how much he truly cares about their bond they created over this short period of time. 

It’s late at night when they board the plane back to the United States. They are both exhausted and Johnny’s arms are still cramped up and sore. Tony takes the window seat and Johnny sits right beside him. Production told them about the twist for the final saying that one person could take all the money if they chose to. When Tony had heard that it made his stomach drop. He knew what Bananas had done to Sara, how he had taken all the money from her, even when he claimed their rivalry to be over. Johnny had told Tony the same thing, and for the past few hours Tony had wanted to ask Johnny what he would have done if they had made it to the final and won. If Johnny would have taken Tony’s money. It had been weighing on his mind for hours but he didn’t know how to ask him without sounding accusing. Johnny apparently knew Tony better than he thought he did because the second they sat down on the plane Johnny turned to Tony.  
“Look at me” Johnny said, Tony turned in his seat, Johnny had a serious look on his face “I would have never ever taken that money from you had we made it to the end. Understand? I could never do that to you.”   
Tony’s heart stumbled in his chest. He got a warm smile on his face and quietly whispered back “Thank you Johnny. And just for the record I wouldn’t have taken it from you either.”  
“I know” was Johnny’s reply. “Your heart’s too big to ever do anything so selfish like that.”

Two hours into the flight, Tony woke up. Johnny was asleep with his head resting on Tony’s shoulder, and it felt right. He felt so comfortable around Johnny. It was one of the few people outside of his family he felt like he could totally let his guard down around and sitting there with Johnny’s head on his shoulder he just felt comfortable. It was this unexplainable feeling that came over Tony, like everything in the world was right in this very moment. It was sitting there on that plane, watching the man he had become so close to sleep that he realized something. Something so big and so obvious yet something he hadn’t been able to understand up until this very moment. Tony was falling in love with Johnny Bananas.


End file.
